By Ken Wagner
September 9, 2009

Mike Spencer made two “in the zone” passes on a tricky Calistoga track near the end of the 2nd Annual Louie Vermeil Classic this week. Not only did he move up each time, but the second one won him his 11th all time CRA main event. That pass brought the packed house to its feet in a roar of approval and made all his fans proud! The Finale had three different leaders as Kevin Swindell led until Jessie Hockett grabbed it from him and stretched it out to the point where he looked golden. Unfortunately, he jumped the berm and crashed in turn 4, and the restart put Spencer right behind the new leader, Swindell. All this happened after a very slick slide job past a fast Josh Ford to pull into 3rd place earlier. On the last restart, Mike came down the front stretch and watched young Swindell go high in the groove, so he cut under him and quickly motored into the lead he never surrendered, and pulled away for one of his biggest wins in his career in the special 30 lap USAC/CRA event.

For Mrs Wags pics Click here. For My Saturday pics Click Here. For my Sunday pics Click here. For Doug Allen's best Click here. For TOHF Click here. If you want to read the Wagtimes newletter version of the calistoga trip Click Here.

Spencer was the first car to break the track record on the opening night and went on to run second in his heat and 11th in the main that night. He and many had their problems with the big 2 foot wall in turn two. It was a mound of solid mud that formed there in the feature that took some real skill to get by without a problem. He was 4th quick the second night, again second in his heat and went to work on the trickier track as soon as the first green fell. He worked his way into 4th place before making a smooth slider to gain third. It became 2nd when Hockett crashed. With 6 laps to go, the last restart sealed his fate when he made the hard pass and ran off to the winners circle. It was an outstanding job on this track for the young reigning USAC/CRA Champion.

The first night gave us a heavy tacky track, so racing was really good after a long packing effort by the cars. Kevin Swindell had his problems controlling the Beef Packer car early in the race and tried to dive low to pass and with his horsepower it worked more often than not. On the last scramble late in the feature, he was running with the top five and the others were still on top. The last restart gave him the bottom alone and the boys on top ahead of him played with the 2nd turn wall momentarily, and while they dealt with that, he shot into the lead he wouldn’t give up. He was 13th quick in his heat on Saturday and started back a ways . Sunday he was 7th quick, again 2nd in his heat and started on the front row of the main event. He led early, then was passed by Hockett and inherited the lead on a restart, but didn’t close it out, getting 2nd in this one behind Spencer.

Blake Miller broke the new track record, after two before him already had, at 19.335 and went on to finish a close 3rd in the main He missed the transfer in his heat and had to run the semi, which he won. On Sunday he was very unlucky. In his heat a friendly young driver started too soon, and then backed off and that started a chain reaction of crashing. That melee sent him spinning in the air like a 3 meter board diver, thus banging around with several other cars. When he finally landed, that car was done for the night. It was needing a lot of bolt-ons and much more to be racing again. They rolled out their back-up plan, the black # 16, and he started in the back of the semi and the 30 lap main event. Finishing in 8th place, after all that, was an outstanding job.

Josh Ford had a breakout kind of weekend as he brought a midget and a sprinter to the dance. He was 12th in his little car on Saturday, but Sunday was a whole new deal. He not only beat Garrett Hansen in Andy Bondio’s super strong # 47, he did it convincingly for the big win. His opening night sprint run was similar to the midget with a 13th place finish. Winning the Midget finale must have given him some confidence because he ran hard and fast in the 410 feature grabbing 3rd, his first podium in nearly two years. Josh can smile now, he earned it!

There were many with positive results this weekend. First CRA point leader David Cardey was 5th and 10th on the two nights of racing, and it wasn’t easy. Bobby McMahan finished 4th and 6th for an outstanding job as he is a wing guy from the Golden State series. Matt Mitchell ran 2nd and 12th. He appeared to be faster than ever in the black car. Danny Sheridan led the first night big as he pulled away from the pack until a yellow slowed him down. After an incident with another car on the track, he limped home to a 9th place finish with a bent front axle and a packed right front wheel. The next night he started mid pack and patiently rolled up to 4th at the finish. He was faster than 3rd place Ford, but couldn’t chance making a pass on a trickier track than the night before. Ronnie Gardner’s 13th place finish in Sunday’s main event was probably his best finish. When you add an 18th in the Saturday prelim, it means he made both features and ran very well for the rookie he is. Shane Golobic had an 8th and 5th for two good runs from a guy who has run with the CRA off and on for some time now. Garrett Hansen had some good and bad with a 6th place finish the first night, but a broken motor sent him to the showers early on Sunday. These drivers were especially racy both nights.

The sad sack list was long as there were many who didn’t make the lofty goal they set for themselves this weekend. Jesse Hockett probably heads the list as he took a fast, but evil handling # 35 car to the front on Saturday only to pull off when it became too wild to continue. Overnight they made it work as he marched to the front and was blowing them all away when he jumped the cushion and was done. Tony Jones running 14th and then a broken rear-end 20th were not what the former champion was looking for on his first trip to the big fast track. Greg Bragg was 24th and 9th and not what he expected this week as he has been running great in recent races. Peter Murphy was 16th and 7th after winning at Petaluma on Friday night. It wasn’t what the Bandit runner was wanting either. The Williams Brothers Cody and Austin struggled the entire weekend, but worked hard for what they got. I collected $100 of Wagsbucks and they split it in the spirit of giving from the fans who still follow my path.

My racing highlights for this special event included Blake Miller setting a new track record, Danny Sheridan leading mightily for 11 laps until an evil slider put his front end out of kilter, Josh Ford winning the midget final and hitting the podium in his sprinter, Blake Miller, after getting crashed out in his record setting car, using the back-up #16 car from the back of the semi and main to get 8th after a 3rd the first night, watching Jesse Hockett change an evil handling car to a rocket ship and blowing away the field until he crashed, and finally Mike Spencer getting the job done with two amazing clean as a whistle slide jobs to beat the youngster from Tennessee and take home the bacon to So Cal!!!! There were a few more items that included some great passing all over the track, wheelstands by some fast cars on the move and watching close quarter racing of thunder and lightning sprint cars

The racing was great and the event honoring Louie Vermeil a smashing success for the second year in a row. Steve Howard should get big kudos for his $20,000 fund raising for the racers. He stood around and gave cash to many who earned it by their performances. Kind of a Robin Hood deal, but he didn’t steal it, he begged for it, and it was a tough year collecting donations. The wine tasting and racer auction of donated items added more to the racers pocket books. Both were part of the fun for race fans coming to enjoy a great weekend with weather so nice I wanted to bottle it and take it home. The first day the old timers were autographing for the fans and that was very special. I met a few who I had not met before and I was kinda in awe of a couple of them. The active driver’s autograph session was not as well attended and it was obvious some of them haven’t learned how to turn on the charm for the fans? Do we need to school them? Have Lealand teach them, he is the master.

There were two things I think needs improvement for next year. One, the speakers are so weak my tired ears couldn’t hear all that was broadcast over them. More importantly the second item is about blankets. The use of them drew more attention than any where I ever go. They have a tradition at Calistoga that the first person in line, whenever he arrives, uses chalk to mark a square where he will come back before the 4 pm opening of the spectator gates and get in. This tradition allows him the access to do the wine tasting or other activities and not get tied up at the gate. When he goes in at the 4 PM opening of the gates, he puts down his blanket or blankets, and now can go get dinner. It works everywhere else, why not here. There were so many mad people because they were beaten to their wanted spot, and some decided to break tradition and you know what happens then, right? Trouble, that’s what. Then security was forced to pull blankets if no one was sitting on them???? It was too early to do that, but the complainers kinda reminds me of the person or persons who get things changed by their minority position when the majority wants it. It has happened on many important things in our country. Anyway, I think you merely have to publish the rules ahead of time and those who can’t follow them, tough stuff. An alternative would be reserved seating, but that means the seats will cost more for those who are pressed to go in the first place. They need that extra beer money! I think general admission is fine if policed properly and maybe allow only two or three blankets per person going in. But to take them up after someone worked hard to put them down is not fair. What makes this track different?

Things we want to know. I didn’t hear why 8 lap heats and 10 lap semis? Did a 25 lap feature come up? Is it because the track is so large or the fuel bill is so high? Was Manzanita smaller, hardly, but we never shortened our program there? What car did the battle bar fall off on the track that caused the first yellow early in the Sunday feature? If it was the leader at the time, or anybody else in the line-up, wasn’t he supposed to go to the back for causing the yellow? What was the fuel can throwing incident about with the other red # 50 car, Jeff Griffin? Did they fuel without the driver getting out of the car, or were words a problem before the fuel can toss event that happened and he was disqualified for the night. Is that car Dick Vermeil drove his or was it Louie Vermeil’s? Can’t the scoreboard be fixed, or turned off?

Thanks to Julie Shiosaki, Beezer & the USAC folks who brought my Mule up for me to get around in, it was very appreciated. Also a special thanks to the Kittle Crew for including me in their racing trip North to Calistoga. It was fun and we had a good time. Thanks to Gary Tanaka for sharing his room when I couldn’t hook up with “The” Barber like I planned. Thanks to Fran and the gang for getting Mrs Wags on the plane in time for the races and Mike Clark for transporting her to me. And last, but not least, a big thanks to Chris & Brian Kittle for hosting me and dozens of others in their Kittle Kamp feedings, it was like eating at a racetrack Ritz! Yes the Kittle Ritz was cooking the good stuff all weekend. Thanks to you all, having fun with racing people is what it’s all about, remember that, and see ya at the track, Jack!

As for all my “friends” on Facebook, sorry, but I deactivated my file. I couldn’t find the time and interest to play in that venue. I figure if you want to share something with me, you have my e-mail and phone number, otherwise it’s probably not important. I guess my age is showing as I am not that svelte 39 anymore. See you all at Perris on the 19th for the annual Jack Kindoll Classic.

RIP Walt James. He was one of the most storied gentlemen in racing history. His accomplishments are long and important to our sport. He lived racing to the end and will be in all our minds for the rest of our days. The WRA will miss the gassing up he loved to do on the track. My heart goes out to all his family and friends.

9/05/09 Feature @ Calistoga: (30 laps) 1. Kevin Swindell, 2. Matt Mitchell, 3. Blake Miller, 4. Bobby McMahan, 5. David Cardey, 6. Garrett Hansen, 7. Rip Williams, 8. Shane Golobic, 9. Danny Sheridan, 10. Kyle Hirst, 11. Mike Spencer, 12. Kyle Larson, 13. Josh Ford, 14. Tony Jones, 15. Matt Streeter, 16. Peter Murphy, 17. Cody Williams, 18. Ronnie Gardner, 19. Jesse Hockett, 20. Jeff Griffin, 21. Austin Williams, 22. Marc Mackay, 23. Keith Bloom Jr., 24. Greg Bragg. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Sheridan, Laps 13-23 Mitchell, Laps 24-30 Swindell.

NEW LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Cardey-574; 2-Miller-555; 3-Hansen-553; 4-Spencer-533; 5-Bragg-445; 6-Sheridan-415; 7-R.Williams-382; 8-Mitchell-377; 9-Cory Kruseman-362; 10-C.Williams-278.

9/06/09 Feature @ Calistoga: (30 laps) 1. Mike Spencer, 2. Kevin Swindell, 3. Josh Ford, 4. Danny Sheridan, 5. Shane Golobic, 6. Bobby McMahan, 7. Peter Murphy, 8. Blake Miller (#16), 9. Greg Bragg, 10. David Cardey, 11. Matt Streeter, 12. Matt Mitchell, 13. Ronnie Gardner, 14. James Sweeney, 15. Austin Williams, 16. Jesse Hockett, 17. Kyle Larson, 18. Garrett Hansen, 19. Jeff Griffin, 20. Tony Jones, 21. Tyler Schmidt, 22. Cody Williams, 23. Mathew Shedarowich. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Swindell, Laps 7-25 Hockett, Laps 26-30 Spencer.

NEW LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Cardey-619; 2-Spencer-603; 3-Miller-601; 4-Hansen-579; 5-Bragg-485; 6-Sheridan-471; 7-Mitchell-418; 8-R.Williams-383; 9-Cory Kruseman-362; 10-C.Williams-292.

NEXT LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: September 19 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway